Sam nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think I’m their favorite person right now.”
“Oh, but I love it. Honestly, that’s so awesome.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not an elected official or I’d likely be losing my job next time around. As it is, I can still get fired.”
“They wouldn’t fire you for telling the truth, would they?”
He shrugged. “We’ll see how many enemies I made today. I’ll talk to Tillie and we’ll come up with some solutions that don’t involve punching, but I’m not going to tell her to stop defending people.”
“I think it’s terrible that a little girl should even be in a position where she has to defend people,” Carly said. “They’re only five—the world should still be a wonderful, magical place.”
“When I was five, I was picking my nose and playing with worms,” Sam replied. “It was a great childhood.”
He must have caught the look on her face because he continued, “It wasn’t great because of the nose picking—and I did grow out of that, I promise.”
She laughed. “No, I get it. Noses are fascinating. The mental images, though . . .”
“Yeah. Sorry.” He took a sip of his drink, then looked over at the girls. “They haven’t even noticed the food’s here.”
“Nope, they’re too busy having fun, and that’s what childhood should be about. They’ll have the rest of their lives to deal with the hard stuff—why can’t they have a few years of innocence before then?”
“Speaking of the hard stuff, I’ve done some digging around. Are you ready to hear my report now, or should we save that until a little later? You’ve had a hard day—maybe you should get Sophie home and settled, and I could come by after dinner. It’s not urgent.”
Carly nodded. “That sounds good, and yes, it’s been a crazy day. Everything’s hitting all at once and I want to go find a dark hole to climb into.”
He smiled. “I’ll come by around seven.”
“That’ll work, and I have a few things to talk to you about too.”
The girls finally ran over to the table and ate their food—sort of. They each took a few bites and then dashed back to the ball pit, their ponytails swinging behind them as they ran. They were like little twins, only Sophie was more blonde, and Tillie’s eyes were brown instead of blue.
“Do you think Tillie will go into law enforcement?” Carly asked.
“I don’t know, but I think she’d make an outstanding lawyer. She can sure make a good argument when she doesn’t agree with something.” Sam chuckled. “I’d best be going—we have some errands to run on the way home. See you tonight, Carly.”
Even though she knew he was coming to talk about her situation and that it wasn’t a date, she still felt warmth spread through her chest. “See you then.”
***
“Daddy, why do I have to come shopping with you?” Tillie dragged her feet across the store parking lot. “I could have gone home with Sophie, and you could have picked me up later.”
Sam shook his head. Until he learned more about Mick Clark, he didn’t want Tillie getting too close to the situation. It was bad enough that Carly and Sophie had to be in it. “Maybe another time, sweetie. I wanted you to come shopping with me so you can help me pick the right stuff.”
She put on a thoughtful face. “You’re right, Daddy. Sometimes you do buy the wrong food. Like that cereal. It was the wrong cereal, Daddy.”
She’d told him so quite a number of times—he was well aware of just how wrong the cereal had been. He was willing to hear it all over again, though, if it distracted her from wanting to go to Sophie’s house. Once he had a better understanding of what was going on over there, then he’d reconsider.
“We’ll go to the cereal aisle together and you can show me the right one, okay?”
“Okay. Because I think you need help.”
“I need all the help I can get sometimes, sweetie.”
He grabbed a cart, and they went up and down each aisle. He always intended to make a menu and an organized list, but that never happened. Instead, they grabbed whatever looked good and some things that were on sale, and then threw in some produce to try to even it out. He knew he should be doing a better job with Tillie’s nutrition and tried to make sure that she was at least getting some milk and an apple inside her every day, but there was so much more he could be doing. He knew a ton of single parents who were better at this than he was—maybe it was time to start pumping them for advice.
Tillie took a few minutes to explain to him which cereals were acceptable and which weren’t, and he thought once again what a great lawyer she’d make someday. She had her talking points for each box, and what impressed him the most was the fact that she wasn’t heading straight for the highly sugared kinds. She explained that those kinds were more like a treat, and they weren’t breakfast, and she wanted breakfast.
She chose out a box of Cheerios, one of Rice Krispies, and another of Chex. “These are breakfast, Daddy,” she said as she put them in the cart. “And that one is wrong.” She pointed to the high-fiber cereal he’d grabbed in a state of apparent psychosis while shopping without her one day.
“I understand,” he said, nodding contritely.
“It’s okay, Daddy,” she said, taking his hand. “You’re good at trying.”
Her little backhanded compliment warmed him through and through, and he was grinning as they rounded the aisle and started looking for cookies. He was listening to Tillie jabber and wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around him when he glanced up and noticed Mick Clark coming the other way up the aisle.
“Oh, excuse me,” Sam said, guiding his cart to the side so Mick could pass. As he did so, he quickly glanced over the contents of the other man’s cart. Bread, peanut butter, jam, eggs, milk, cheese, orange juice, bacon, a frying pan, salt, and pepper.
“No, my fault,” Mick said as he went by. He reached out, took a package of cookies, and moved on.
“Mister!”
Mick startled and turned. “Yes?”
Tillie put her hands on her hips. “Mister, you bought the wrong cookies.”
Sam sighed and shook his head. “Honey, I’m sure those cookies are fine.”
“No, they’re not!” She pointed at the shelf. “See the yellow tag? That package isn’t on sale. This one is.” She took the correct package from the shelf and handed it to Mick.
“Well, what do you know?” Mick smiled. “You just saved me thirty cents. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. My daddy taught me to look for the yellow tags.”
“You’ve got a smart daddy.” Mick put the first package back. “You folks have a good day now.”
“You too,” Sam told him. Then when Mick was no longer on the aisle, he crouched down and said, “Sweetie, what do I always say about not talking to strangers?”
“But you were with me the whole time, Daddy, and he was going to buy the wrong cookies!”
As if that would have been the greatest tragedy to befall mankind . . . He passed a hand over his face. He’d thought so many times about asking his mother to come live with them, but she was happy in her retirement village in Memphis, and if he moved her three hours away, she wouldn’t be able to see her friends very often. She’d love helping him with Tillie, but he didn’t want her to feel like she was just a glorified babysitter.
He could use her wisdom, though.
“Hey, we haven’t seen Grandma for a while. Should we go for a visit?”
Tillie raised an eyebrow. “Grandma Gloria or Grandma Hattie?”
It had been so long since they’d seen Grandma Hattie, Sam was surprised that she’d even come up in this conversation. “Grandma Gloria.”
“Yes! We definitely need to go!”
Sam grinned. He’d check his calendar at the station the next day and see when they could get away. Not only would Tillie love to see her grandma, but he could use a good long chat with his mother. It had been far too long.
“Mommy, did Daddy move to Cherry Creek?”
Carly’s hands stilled. She was glad she had her back to Sophie so she could school her emotions privately. “I don’t think so, honey. Why do you ask?”
“Well . . .”
Carly forced a smile onto her face and turned away from the stove. Sophie was sitting up to the counter on a stool, doing her homework. “What’s going on?” she asked her daughter.
“Well, when I was out on the playground today, I saw him on the other side of the fence. And I told Tillie, and some of the boys heard me, and that’s when Randy started teasing me. He said real dads don’t have to stay on the other side of the fence.”
Carly exhaled slowly. She needed to stay calm. “Did your daddy say anything to you?”
“No, he just waved. Sort of like he didn’t want anyone to see that he was waving.”
“And how far away was he?”
Sophie scrunched up her face, thinking. “Well, I was by the swings, and he was kind of over there.” She pointed.
That didn’t help a lot, but Carly thought it was about sixty or seventy feet from the swings to the fence—she hadn’t thought to bring a tape measure when she visited the school. Again, Mick was pushing that fifty-foot rule right to the edge.
“It sounds like he’s here for a visit.” Carly turned back to the stove and pulled the noodles off the heat.
“But I don’t want him to visit. I thought we didn’t have to see him anymore.”
Carly poured the noodles into the colander and let them drain while she tried to think of the right words to say. She didn’t even know how to explain it to herself—what chance did she have of making sense to a five-year-old? She put the noodles back in the pot, set the pot on the trivet, and then walked around the counter and took the stool next to Sophie’s.
“I thought we wouldn’t be seeing him again, but I guess I was wrong,” she said, feeling her way with every word. “What was it like, seeing him today?”
“I was scared,” Sophie replied. “I remembered that time he hurt you, and you broke your arm.”
Carly pulled in a breath. She had a lot of reasons for holding a grudge against Mick, but the fact that he’d scared their daughter was her biggest reason. Yes, the broken arm hurt. The cracked ribs hurt. The head injury hurt. But seeing the fear on her daughter’s face? That was worse than all of it.
“I’m sorry you were scared,” she said, putting her arm around Sophie and pulling her into a hug. “We’re going to do whatever we can to stay safe, all right?”
“Is that why all the curtains are closed?”
Smart girl. Carly had hoped Sophie wouldn’t notice. “I just decided to close them. Don’t you like it?”
Sophie shrugged. “You close them at bedtime, and it’s not bedtime.”
“Just trying something different.”
“Mommy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“I like it in Cherry Creek. I don’t want to move.”
Carly blinked. “Why would we have to move?”
“Well, you said we moved away from Denver so we wouldn’t live by Daddy anymore. And now Daddy’s here.”
Carly gave Sophie another squeeze. “We’re going to get everything figured out, sweetheart. We’re going to make it work. I like it here too—I don’t want to move.”
“Good. Because Tillie’s my best friend in the whole wide world.”
Sophie went back to coloring all the stars yellow, but Carly couldn’t manage to stand up and finish making dinner just yet. She was so angry, she almost couldn’t remember what she was supposed to be doing. Sophie was happy here—how dare Mick come along and ruin that for her on top of everything else he’d done?
“Do you want to color with me, Mommy?”
“I think you’re supposed to do that page yourself, but we can do one of your coloring books later, okay?”
“Okay.”
Sophie’s little head bobbed as she worked, and Carly closed her eyes. Give me strength. Help me get through this. “Are you hungry?”
Sophie nodded, although she didn’t take her eyes from the page.
Carly pushed herself up and walked back over to the stove. Sauce. She needed to warm up the sauce. She opened the jar and dumped the sauce into a pan, then grabbed a bag of salad out of the fridge. She could pretend she was fine for another hour, and then when Sam got there, she was going to plead with him to do everything he could to get Mick away from her daughter.
Seven o’clock hit, and Carly tucked Sophie up in the master bedroom with a Pixar movie. It was a little before bedtime, and she didn’t want Sophie overhearing any of the conversation that would be taking place. Sam arrived a few minutes later, and she invited him into the living room.
“Can I get you anything? Juice, coffee . . .”
“I’m fine, thanks.” He glanced around. “Where’s Sophie?”
“Upstairs with a movie. I thought that was best.”
“Good idea. Tillie was greatly offended that I didn’t bring her—she usually likes staying home with Mrs. Stevens, our neighbor, but I might be in the doghouse for months this time.”
Carly laughed. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you eventually. So, you said you wanted to talk to me, and I need to talk to you—who should go first?”
He held out a hand. “The floor is yours.”
“Okay. Well, I’m being given a great opportunity, one that will launch my career up to a whole new level, and it’s what I’ve always wanted, but I’m not sure I should take it. Not with everything going on. I’m supposed to be going on tour, and I can take Sophie with me, but there’s so much that could go wrong. Do you think it’s safe?”
“Tour?” Sam asked. “What sort of tour?”
She blinked. It hadn’t occurred to her that he wouldn’t know. “A concert tour.” He still looked blank. “I have an album coming out soon, and a single that’s been out for a little while now.”
“Oh. I’m sorry—you probably think I’m dense that I didn’t know that. I don’t listen to the radio that often because I’ve always got my police scanner on, and it puts me behind the times as far as entertainment goes.” He paused. “Congratulations, by the way. That’s so great.”
“Thank you. So, they want me to be gone about two months. Like I said, I can take Sophie, but I haven’t committed to anything yet, and I need to give them my answer as soon as possible because they have to set everything up.”
Sam nodded. “I think you’ll be all right—they’ve got all kinds of security at those events, and I’m sure they’d be extra invested in keeping you safe when you’re traveling with a child.”
“That’s what they’ve been telling me. I just wish there was a way to know for sure.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think this situation with Mick is going to drag out too much longer.” He gave her a rundown of everything he’d been doing since she showed up in his office. “And then this afternoon, I took Tillie grocery shopping, and we happened to run into Mick at the store.”
Carly’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
“Tillie encouraged him to buy the cookies that were on sale rather than the full-price ones.”
“She did?”
Sam chuckled. “She has a very precise idea about how things should be done. She’s always been that way—drives me nuts sometimes, but cracks me up, too. Anyway, I now have a very good idea of where Mick is staying, and I’m going to pay him a visit tomorrow morning.”
“How do you know where he’s staying after running into him at the store?”
“He was buying milk, which needs to be kept in a refrigerator, which narrows down the number of hotels we need to search—only a few have fridges. He was also buying a frying pan, meaning that there’s a stove wherever he is, and there’s only one hotel nearby that has full kitchenettes.”
“I’m impressed by your detective work,” Carly said with a smile. “But what if he’s rented an apartment?”
“Oh, okay. I’m very comforted.” She shook her head. “Seriously, though, thank you. You’ve done so much in such a short amount of time.”
“You can thank Sophie for that.”
“I can?”
“Yeah. I keep thinking, what if it was my daughter going through something like this? Children deserve to be safe. That’s been my driving force ever since I decided to become a police officer.”
“I can’t think of a better motivation than the safety of our children.” Carly shifted on the couch, wondering if she should ask, and then deciding just to go for it. “What happened to Tillie’s mother?”
Sam didn’t answer for a few seconds, and Carly wished she could retract the question. She barely knew this man—she had no right to be asking him anything personal.
“She was killed by a drunk driver when Tillie was eighteen months old.”
“Oh.” Carly found it hard to pull in her next breath. “I’m so sorry.”
“It was hard. Still is. Tillie has little flashes of memory about her mother, but nothing concrete, and for the most part, she seems to be doing all right with just a dad. Every so often, she’ll talk about things that other girls do with their moms, and I know she feels the loss, but she’s handled it like a trooper.”
“Children are tougher than we give them credit for. And they’re also more sensitive—I don’t know how they manage both at the same time.” Carly felt an ache in her chest, thinking about Tillie. Carly and her mother were close, and she couldn’t imagine Tillie growing up without one. “I need to tell you one more thing.”
“Oh?”
“Mick showed up at the school today. Sophie saw him through the fence.”
Sam’s jaw clenched. “That’s not acceptable.”
“I agree. How can we keep the children out of this? Not only Sophie, but everyone else on that playground? It’s not fair for them to get dragged into grownup problems.”
“I’m going to call in an extra patrol for tomorrow—and for as long as I need to. Hopefully, Mick will leave town after I talk to him, but we’ll see. I’m also putting a police car in your driveway tonight.”
Sidearms and Songbirds (Hearts of Nashville Book 3) Page 4
